Chapter 744: The Eternity Sarcophagus
After a bout of laughing and weeping, Immortal Ji Yao regained her composure. She said to Tang Jie, "You are Li Jiuyang's inheritor, so you can consider me your teacher's wife. Since I have fallen and become a demon, I won't ask you to release me. I only hope that you'll acknowledge me as your teacher's wife. Are you willing?"
Tang Jie didn't mince words, immediately kneeling and saying, "Tang Jie pays respects to Master's Wife."
Immortal Ji Yao chuckled. "Very good, very good. I didn't think that I would be able to meet Jiuyang's successor after being imprisoned here for ten thousand years. I can now die without regrets. Right, is your avatar still alive?"
"It is still alive, thanks to my lady's blessing."
"'Blessing'? What blessing?"
Tang Jie explained the Dream Pearl Lady painting.
Although this painting depicted Immortal Ji Yao, it was painted by Zhan Mengqian, not Immortal Ji Yao, and she had had no knowledge of it.
Upon hearing Tang Jie's explanation, Immortal Ji Yao said in realization, "I understand. Someone must have witnessed me ascending to the Immortal Domain and succeeded in imbuing my divinity into the painting. At that time, I had already achieved great success in the cultivation of the Peaceful Divine Abode Classic, and my divinity had the ability to soothe the spirit, so it's not strange that this painting can preserve your avatar."
Tang Jie still found it strange. Zhan Mengqian was just a mortal, and unless he had entered the Dao of Painting, how he had been able to imbue his painting with the Pearl Lady's divinity?
But there were all sorts of strange things in the world, and perhaps that painting sage really had been just that incredible.
What Immortal Ji Yao said next excited Tang Jie. "I suppose this is Fate. Since you are Jiuyang's successor and have even gained a sliver of my divinity through that painting, you have some destiny with me, so there is no need to keep the Divine Restoration Classic to myself."
Tang Jie was shocked and delighted that he was getting the Divine Restoration Classic.
Thus, Immortal Ji Yao imparted the classic to Tang Jie, and with this art, the avatar's Divine Soul stopped withering and began to slowly recover. And the Pearl Lady painting even sped up the recovery.
But Tang Jie felt like he was in a difficult spot.
Immortal Ji Yao had given him the Divine Restoration Classic, but he was unwilling to release his master's wife, which made him feel guilty.
Fortunately, Immortal Ji Yao became much more understanding now that she understood Tang Jie's connection to the Martial Lord. "Now that I'm a demon, I am affected by my Demonic Will, which occasionally turns me ruthless. If I were to be released, I would inevitably bring harm to others, so it is best if I remain here. If you feel guilty, you can stay here for a while and talk with me, allowing me to vent my emotions and gain a better understanding of the world. In this way, you can also protect the soul within the Azure Dragon. Moreover, I won't have you do this for nothing. I am confident that I can give you some pointers regarding cultivation if you need it."
Everyone was happy to hear this.
After all, this was a Boundless Gold Immortal.
What was the meaning of a major sect? Was it not their inheritances and their teachings, allowing disciples to make fewer mistakes on their path?
Was there anything more valuable than the instruction of a Boundless Gold Immortal?
Everyone agreed to the deal.
Tang Jie and Shentu Yuan's group took up residence in this place so that they could cultivate.
When they were free, they would chat with Immortal Ji Yao.
Most of the time, Shentu and the rest talked while Immortal Ji Yao listened.
The world had changed greatly over her ten thousand years of imprisonment, and she was desperate to learn about everything going on in the outside world, finding it all new and interesting. Thus, Shentu's group of four split into two pairs. One pair would go out to find historical records and stories for her, even taking recordings of the outside world, and the other pair would read to her and chat with her.
As a reward, Immortal Ji Yao gave them pointers on cultivation, answering every question they had. This female demon had a profound cultivation and vast experience to draw from. While her ways were somewhat out of date, when it came to anything to do with cultivation, she was always able to provide the most meticulous analysis.
For Shentu's group, there were still many things about Violet Palace and above that they didn't understand, and for Tang Jie, while he was able to find other sources of instruction for Earth Immortal and below, even the six major sects didn't have anything about the tiers above Earth Immortal.
But Immortal Ji Yao could answer all their questions.
There was more good news: there really was Dragonbone Spirit Sesame growing on the Azure Dragon's body. The Azure Dragon had been dead for ten thousand years, and while his body hadn't rotted thanks to the Five Elements formation, there was still some corpse energy, which gathered up the essence of the corpse and allowed the Dragonbone Spirit Sesame to grow. This plant was key for the extreme long-distance teleportation formation, and with it, Tang Jie had much greater hopes of returning home. He still lacked some materials and couldn't immediately return, but he could already see a ray of hope, and he had tasked Iron Blood and Liu Zongchang with helping him find these materials. Iron Blood didn't dare to defy his will, and Liu Zongchang had swiftly agreed. The two of them searching would be much more efficient than if Tang Jie himself tried it.
Other than cultivating and conversation, Tang Jie devoted much of his energy to caring for Lin Xin and the avatar.
Now that the avatar had the Divine Restoration Classic, its Divine Soul had begun to recover. Even better was that the Divine Restoration Classic also worked on Lin Xin's soul, and she was gradually gaining control of her new body, capable of doing things like shaking her head or waving her tail.
But there was still a long road until she could fly or use her abilities.
In comparison, the old dragon in Lin Xin's body was much more restless, beginning to shout the moment he woke up.
He was much smarter this time, immediately shouting, "She can't control my body!"
Alas, the crowd had long since scattered, and only the winners were left.
The old dragon saw the smiling faces of Tang Jie and company and shivered.
Even so, he still roared at Lin Xin and begged her to return his body.
The old dragon's Divine Soul was strong and energetic, so Tang Jie had no choice but to knock him out again to maintain the peace. But this was no long-term solution, and he was somewhat at a loss for what to do.
At that moment, Immortal Ji Yao said, "The path of cultivation is actually the path of turning the soul into a god. In other words, cultivating the body is only a means of support, and cultivating the soul is the real goal. From Cognitive Creation, when one creates the Spirit Will, to the condensation of the Dao Fruit at Celestial Heart, and then the charge at Heart Demon, the transformation of the Soul, and the cultivation of the Divine Will, one is constantly working upon the soul. And when one reaches Violet Palace, the soul becomes substantialized and is able to connect to the world, which further strengthens the soul. Infant Tending, Deification, and Soul Projection are also focused on the soul. But only at Immortal Platform is the Divine Soul truly free of the Violet Palace and able to wander the outside world. At this moment, the "soul" part of "Divine Soul" can be removed, for one has become divine, has become a god. Thus they say, when the soul connects to divinity and the cultivator attains Immortality, one becomes a God Immortal!"
These words could be considered a most incisive summary of the Great Stellar Chiliocosm's way of cultivation.
Immortal Ji Yao continued, "As a True Immortal, the old dragon's soul has long ago connected to the divine, transcending the physical body, far more than the souls of Violet Palace cultivators. The Violet Palace soul has physical form and can link to the world, but it is still weaker than the physical body, and it still needs to rely on the body to do many things. To lose the body is to lose strength. But the Immortal Platform Realm is different. While the body remains powerful, the god is even more powerful. Even if you destroy its physical body, so long as the godhood remains, it can still fight. For an Immortal Platform cultivator, the physical body is just a shell, a suit of armor. Killing it is just destroying this shell. Of course, there are quite a few exceptions. Take the Blood River Lord as an example. As a monster born of the Blood River, it is able to take on countless forms and merge into the Blood River. But if the Blood River is destroyed, a part of the god will be destroyed. Although it is unkillable and can take on countless forms, so long as it never concentrates this power, it will forever be stuck at Earth Immortal. As for the Azure Dragon, as a great fiend, he has a powerful physical body, much stronger than that of other Immortal Platform cultivators, but his godhood is somewhat weaker, making things even. Even so, the godhood within the old dragon is enough to destroy a hundred Violet Palace cultivators."
These words had everyone sweating. They had never expected just the dragon's soul to be this powerful.
In the end, it was because they lacked experience and had no idea of the massive gap until Immortal Ji Yao explained it.
According to Immortal Ji Yao, the dragon's godhood alone was enough to dominate the Verdant Cloud Domain. The reason he hadn't used this power and had been so easily beaten was that it had been sealed.
He had wanted his soul to constantly cycle through the world until the right moment came, so his godhood couldn't be so powerful that no host would be able to tolerate it.
Cultivators had to work to gain their cultivation, and they were all born mortals, so this power had to be weakened such that even the weakest mortal could accept it.
Thus, the old dragon had completely sealed his godhood before entering the cycle of reincarnation.
Of course, the Immortal Emperor might have had a way to help the old dragon resolve his problem, but since he was plotting against the dragon anyway, he wouldn't have given it. As a result, while the dragon's godhood was powerful, it was all sealed up, so Tang Jie was able to suppress him and get Lin Xin into his body.
Immortal Ji Yao was saying that while the old dragon's godhood was in Lin Xin's body, it was still a godhood and couldn't be bound by mortal powers. In the end, the seal would come undone, and that power would awaken.
Not only that, just like how the Azure Dragon's blood could nurture Lin Xin's soul, the Azure Dragon's godhood could nurture Lin Xin's body.
Both parties were in the middle of adapting, and once the old dragon adapted sufficiently and undid the seal, the power he unleashed would be enough to flatten Verdant Cloud.
"So, if you want to forestall any problems, I advise you to quickly kill him," Immortal Ji Yao concluded.
Although Tang Jie was tempted to take up this suggestion, Lin Xin objected.
No matter what, she refused to see her old body destroyed.
The reason for her objection was very simple: "The Azure Dragon can grow stronger, but so can I. Even if he gets up to no good in the future, I can stop him. Moreover, Tang Jie is here, and he would never let things get that far. We can use him as a well and draw strength from him."
Tang Jie was also tempted by this idea, but Immortal Ji Yao sneered. "The power of others can never compare to what you cultivate on your own. If you want to destroy your future prospects and stop at Immortal Platform, then go ahead and absorb his power."
Tang Jie was actually a rather ambitious person, and the education of the Basking Moon Sect had taught him to be a very careful person and to avoid narrowing his prospects, so Immortal Ji Yao's words put an end to this idea.
Even so, Lin Xin refused to let him kill the Azure Dragon.
Immortal Ji Yao saw that her entreaties did nothing, so she changed tact. "If you don't want to kill him, then we should seal him. I have a treasure called the Eternity Sarcophagus that can alter the flow of time. Its original purpose is to store corpses and prevent decay or to save someone on the verge of dying. This sarcophagus can put an end to any hopes the old dragon has of recovering."
"Wonderful. Why didn't you say this earlier?" Lin Xin spoke like a little girl with her deep dragon voice.
"The problem is that this is a supreme divine treasure, and the Immortal talisman will have to be halfway lifted to send it out."
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